Late NBD!! 1983 Peavey T-20

[1SHOT1HIT]

Well, as noted above, I picked this up about a week ago from a local pawn shop! Asking price was $75-$80???, don't recall, but I paid $50.00

It had been tucked way back behind the other stuff, neglected & dusty.
Whoever owned it definitely didn't care for it at all. It was in pretty sad shape. It's pots were scratchy, the bass was filthy, with every bit of its almost 30 years of filth on it. Pots were scratchy, had one broken solder joint, missing tone knob, stickers up & down the fret board, a few dings and scratches, the collar around the p'up was reversed, neck was pretty out of shape, and worst, it had a hairline fracture running from the A tuner peg hole, through the E peg hole, however it doesn't go through the entire headstock, only the back.
It's not really that noticeable and has absolutely no effect on playability, or sound.

Definitely not my best score, but I couldn't bear to walk away and not rescue this poor thing.
Nobody has loved on it in quite a few years, the guys at the pawn shop said its sat on the wall back in the back for years and years untouched.

It had a few minor issues, most were correctable through simple maintenance though.
For $50 bucks, I had to grab it.

It's 100% original, minus the missing tone knob.
Overall condition was horrible but after a complete tear down, lengthy clean, full set up including strings, and some contact cleaner, it's actually a REALLY nice bass.
The thing has an awesome sound and I've actually gotten to really like this thing these past few days. If Peavey's from this era are this nice to play, I'm definitely gonna be keeping an eye out for them.

Special thanks to SMCD & AStep for their assistance on information.

I've only taken a few bad pics but here they are none the less. I'll gladly post a few more as soon as I get the chance.





Thanks for looking, come again!

[TNCreature]

Great score!
You took home the Charlie Brown Christmas tree and gave it love!

[smcd]

Looks great!

[1SHOT1HIT]

Thank you, still need to order a knob, but it's not gonna kill me to hold off a while.

I know there was one on EBay recently, so hopefully it won't be too big of a deal when I get around to finding one!

[Immigrant]

Nice rescue!

There's something satisfying about saving an old, neglected bass. It's like getting a dog from a shelter instead of a breeder.

Dig that built-in thumb rest!

[PlungerModerno]

Very nice. I'll bet she's a keeper!

[dalkowski]

That is total win. Well done!

And yes, the thumbrest design is genius.

[SolarMan]

COol!

Also, no harm in missing a knob - the more I see guys toting knobless basses, the more I like the look.

Although, now guys are taking the knobs off on purpose. Imagine that!

[Templar]

Nice score. The T-20 was a Mike Powers design. The SF pickup is not the same version as found on other Peavey basses, it's much bigger underneath the guard.

I love the way they sound, like a baked in "plonk", ala 60's pop music.

Figure an original knob will run you ~ $15. They're quite sought after (the knobs, not so much the basses).

[MNAirHead]

The neck on that is worth more than you paid

[tgriley62]

Nice save. Glad that another old Peavey is going to be around for a few more years

[kjpollo]

To echo what everybody's saying- nice score!
I got one here on TB a few years back and it's a really cool alternative to use in my classic rock band.

I love mine and I'm sure you'll love this one now that you cleaned it up and made it playable again.

[Grebnaws]

Does the t20 use the same slanted sf pickups used in the early furys?

[Templar]

Originally Posted by Grebnaws

Does the t20 use the same slanted sf pickups used in the early furys?

Yes.

[A-Step-Towards]

Glad you ended up with this, I love me a natural finished bass-that thing looks great. The rosewood fretboarded ones are rarer thenthe maple ones.

I gotta take a pic of my recent score, fender 57 RI american made, all original , case/case candy, $800 bones.

[Munjibunga]

Nice bass. How come you flipped the pickup cover over?

[1SHOT1HIT]

Originally Posted by Munjibunga

Nice bass. How come you flipped the pickup cover over?

I flipped it back to factory spec, the pics I posted were listed backwards.

The first pic is after it was set up. The second, is how it came.

It's currently correct, with the thumb contour at the top.

[mooreon131]

Cool bass, with a cool story behind it. I've never much cared for the looks of t-20s (Never like the crooked super ferrite pickup in a p-ish guard), bit it's cool that you saved it from the pawn shop.

[1SHOT1HIT]

I can't really say I'm in love with it aesthetically either.

However, it needed some love, price was right, I love a challenge, and after hearing all the good words from the guys that cherish their American Peavey's, I couldn't sleep until I had it out of that cage. I mean $50 bucks for a 30 year old bass that still has plenty of life yet, yeah, I had to do it.

I wasn't even sure I would like playing it, and intended to buy it and sell it.
I've since grown pretty fond of its kinda gritty sound.
Gritty may be a bad choice of words, but that's what came to mind, so it will have to do.

[mugu_77]

Hi out there

I have a rusty bass guitar Peavey T20, and one of the tuning keys is broken. I wrote to the Peavey store to get a spare parts, but they say they don´t have any. Do you guys by any chance, know where I could get it? Any information will be be very much appreciated.

Cheers

Mugu